Running Coach for Women, Couch to 5K Groups, Indoor Running Studio, Weightloss Accountability Groups & Product Reviews and Giveaways for Active Families. I am a mom of three from Madison, Wisconsin. Running has become my me time & makes me a better mom. I want to prove to other women that they, too, can carve out time for themselves each day.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

I was recently introduced to Core Foods (HERE) by one of their representatives. CORE Meals are FRESH portable food. They're as convenient as packaged products, but they're not candy, they're food. Each pack is 4 hours of stable, balanced energy. Grab instead of breakfast when you're in a rush, or after a workout for a solid recovery. One bar plus two glasses of water is equivelant to a full bowl of oatmeal and four hours of energy.

I was sent an assortment of Core Food Defender Meal Bars (HERE). I received three flavors: Raw Almond Raisin, Raw Cashew Cacao, Raw Walnut Banana

A High-Fiber Vegan Meal for toning and weight management. They carefully mix 5 fresh organic plants to pack all 13 amino acids, high plant fiber, and essential fatty acids into one balanced meal on the go.

This food is FRESH. Store in your freezer for maximum life and flavor. Take anywhere for up to 1 week.

I liked the chewy consistency of the bar - similar, but a more moist two the standard Clif Bar. However, these aren't sweet at all. If you are looking for a sweet meal replacement bar, these high-fiber bars are definitely not going to be a sweet pairing with your morning coffee. Enjoyed my bars with a carton of yogurt or a banana. These high-fiber bars definitely left me satisfied and not hungry, though.

Each bar weighs a whopping 3.0 oz. These are some solid meals in bar-form. A box of 10 bars (meals) is $39.99. The pricetag is a little steep for me, when you figure out the price point per bar. Cheaper than going out to lunch, but not as cheap as I can typically pack my own breakfast or lunch.

I was recently given the opportunity to review several great items for active families. You can read all about my fabulous
experiences at the links below. Please visit their websites and start shopping!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

My family recently received a Bella NutriPro Juicer (HERE) to test out and review ($250 value). Having never "juiced" before, I was curious what all of the hype was about. I've seen a lot of blog posts, articles and Facebook statuses referring to "juicing" over the past year.

With the NutriPro juicer, users are able to get more juice and more nutrients for optimal health and wellness than other conventional juicers by thoroughly squeezing each fruit and vegetable. The Bella NutriPro Cold Press Juicer utilizes a two-stage cold press juicing technology that operates via a chewing (mastication) method to produce high-quality juice from each fruit and vegetable. The single juicing screw in the processing bowl first crushes, the compresses and squeezes out the juice. There are no fast-spinning blades that cut and pulverize the fruits and vegetables to produce juice. With the no-blade, cold press technology, oxidation is minimized, no heat is used, and more nutrients and enzymes are preserved. (Most traditional juicers and blenders that claim to juice use blades that shred and break open the cell walls of the produce, exposing it to oxygen and therefore affecting the integrity of the nutrients and enzymes. Enzymes are a necessity for the health and healing of the body. They help break down foods and tell the nutrients where they are most needed in the body. Enzymes aid digestion, keep you youthful and vibrant and increase energy.)

Besides the health value, the NutriPro Juicer users can get more juice from certain fruits and vegetables than other juicers. For example, the NutriPro got 66% more pineapple juice than one of its main competitors.

We didn't have many fresh fruits and veggies on hand. We tried juicing carrots and blackberies. The blackberries didn't work as well as the carrots. Apparently, it takes a lot of berries to make a lot of juice! We tried both juices separately and then tried them mixed together. The kids didn't like either of them. I didn't mind the taste. But, I much prefer blending things in a blender, or making smoothies over juicing. I'm not sure how much I will use the juicer, but I look forward to trying out some "juice recipies" and making just the right pairings next time. The juicer would make some really refreshing summertime drinks, for relaxing out on the porch. The box contained a wheel, to help you select the right fruits and vegetables for your tastebuds and it suggested things that would go well together. I never realized there were so many different fruits and vegetables!

The juicing process was really quite easy. The pulp and remains go into one container and the itty bitty amounts of juice go into another. Bella also includes a a tumbler, so you can easily juice right into the tumbler for quick consumption on your way to work or while out running errands with the kids.

Juicers vs. Blenders:

Most Americans don’t eat nearly enough fruits and vegetables, so consuming them in liquid form is a quick, easy way to meet your healthy daily needs. Both blenders and juicers serve up nutrition in a glass, but the types of beverages they produce are very different.

Blenders pulverize the entire fruit or vegetable into a thick drink known as a smoothie, which contains the fiber from the pulp as well as the juice. In contrast, cold press juicers, like the BELLA NutriPro Juicer, extract only the nutrient-dense liquid.

According to certified holistic health coach and raw foods chef Laurie Erdman, while our bodies do need fiber for a healthy digestive system, the advantage of cold press juicing is that ounce for ounce it yields more concentrated nutrients and enzymes—the fragile proteins that support nearly every body function—that your body can quickly absorb. Fiber can block the absorption of those healthy compounds, slowing digestion.

If you drink a cold press juice you’ll get a bigger jolt of energy than you would from a smoothie, since your body doesn’t have to work to separate the nutrients from the fiber. As a result, Erdman believes, juice from the cold press juicers like the NutriPro has a cleansing, detoxifying effect on the body.

Nutrients and enzymes are also sensitive to friction and temperature. Because the NutriPro doesn’t have blades or heat up to operate like a blender does, the cellular structure of the produce you juice is not compromised. Cold press juicing allows you to quickly and easily ingest all of the healthy nutrients available in your favorite raw fruits and vegetables.